Reset
by superluigi6968
Summary: Yang Xiao Long is trapped in a loop. The only way to break free and continue her life is for Salem to die. Dying before doing that sends her back to the day that everything went so wrong. Originally inspired by a writing prompt.
1. Chapter 1

For roughly the three hundred fiftieth time, Yang woke up in her bed at Beacon, on the day that everything had once gone all kinds of wrong. And for exactly the thirty-second time, began performing her near-perfect day-one checklist to un-wrong it.

"Three years down the drain because of _debris,"_ she grumbled, trying to mentally prepare herself for the coming years.

First things first. One day at a time. One _thing_ at a time. Coffee, then Ozpin's office.

She stopped worrying about her team worrying about her being gone about the third time she'd done this. Right about now, as she ascended toward the Headmaster's office, Blake would be waking up.

Right about now, as she stepped out of the elevator, coffee in hand, Weiss would be waking up, probably annoyed at various things.

Ozpin looked up from behind his desk and spoke, "Miss Xiao Long, I wasn't expectin-"

"Can it, Oswald, I'm here to unmess your mess."

The old Wizard's eyes narrowed, recognizing the situation for what it was, "I see. Well, welcome to the club, I suppose."

Yang silently thanked a previous iteration of Ozpin for telling her some of his previous names. They were as good as passwords into his deepest inner circle, he had said, and that being true made things _much_ easier for her.

She laid her scroll on his desk and tapped the interface briefly, then the entire display flashed red, with a Black Queen depicted prominently, before flickering and returning to its original color. Then she copied a file from her scroll to the desk.

"May I ask what you just did?," Ozpin inquired.

"Like I said, I unmessed your mess. There was a virus in your computer allowing remote access, and _I just purged it_ with a program I wrote just this morning." At some point around iteration one-fifty, she had realized that she had, effectively, _infinite time,_ and picked up programming. Two hundred iterations later, she was a master of computers.

A computer _wizard,_ some might say.

"How many times have you done this?"

"This specifically, or this whole thing in general?"

The old Wizard thought for a moment, which Yang took to mean that he'd figured out that he was better off not asking for the time being, and took the opportunity to tell her Headmaster what to do with the file she had copied to him, as well as a general rundown of everything happening under his nose.

"You know, this is the fortieth time we've had this conversation, or a conversation like it, and I still feel pretty great about telling you what to do."

"Yes, well, not all of us can be blessed to relive their life every time they die."

"You're just mad because my curse is way more thought out than yours."

"Don't you have somewhere to be right now?"

She checked her scroll for the time, and cracked a smile, "Right, time to go make a trained assassin with robo-legs look like a complete idiot." At this point, kicking Mercury to the curb was less of a challenge and more of a cake walk.

"Right. Best of luck," Ozpin said, as if this were the most normal thing in the world, sipping his coffee.

"Eh, I don't really need luck for day one anymore," she countered, turning to return to the elevator, but not descending before getting in a final shot,

"Oh, and have fun being fourteen again."

She heard Ozpin gag on his coffee, and, content that she had gotten all the cheap laughs she was going to get before everything went to hell, started mentally going down the list, remembering what she could change and what couldn't be changed, and preparing herself to run damage control.

 _Step one, Clean up Ozpin's computer._

 _Step two, tell Ozpin everything he needs to know._

 _Step three, give Jaune relationship advice so he won't fumble his talk with Pyrrha._

She checked her scroll for the time. Unfortunately, she had lingered too long with Ozpin, and step three would have to be moved back. There simply wouldn't be time to tell Jaune what he needed to know before her fight with Mercury was scheduled to start.

She continued down the list:

 _Step four, win against Mercury, do nothing in response to Emerald's illusion. Just keep walking._

It had taken her twenty iterations to uncover what had happened. It had taken her thirty more to figure out that simply beating Emerald preemptively wasn't an acceptable solution, and another thirty to figure out that all she had to do was ignore it when it happened. She reminisced about her own rationalizing at the time:

 _Worst case, the illusion feels real and I get hurt. Best case, nothing happens, I walk off stage and get all kinds of accolades, and they look like fools._

Oh, how she wished that were true. How she wished that doing that would've been the end of her problems.

She rubbed her right palm, appreciating what she had for the moment. She had figured out a long time ago, around iteration sixty, that she could prevent the loss of her arm, but she and others would suffer worse fates down the line for it.

 _Some things can't be changed._

Her thoughts drifted to Blake. Her constant companion in many iterations. More than just a friend several times. She had always made time to foster their relationship. She had many early resets for her efforts, but a few that lasted for the whole duration.

She remembered yesterday, three years from now. She had been at the finish line. It was about to be over. About to be free to live her life with Blake.

And then she had been crushed by debris.

Maybe, this time, she would invite Blake on for the ride.

She likes books, right?


	2. Chapter 2

Yang was tending the garden around her home, Blake sitting nearby reading a book. This was a period of life that Yang had gotten used to. The months following Beacon's fall had long since stopped causing depression and anxiety. Mostly helped because she had long since figured out the best way to ensure that Blake would be here with her.

Now it was just a waiting game. She couldn't get back into the fight until her arm arrived, and she had a lot to do once she got started again, if she wanted to get everything done in three years like she had on that one near-success.

Blake closed the book loudly, signaling that she had finished and that it was now time for Yang to have the most uncomfortable conversation she had ever had for the thirteenth time.

It's been about a month since the Fall of Beacon. A month since Yang had lost her arm again. A month she had spent writing a novel of some of her past iterations, entirely so Blake could read it and decide if she wanted to be a part of it.

So far, all previous twelve times she had gotten to this point, Blake had never said no.

"So, what do you think?" Yang inquired, even though she knew the answer.

Blake took a deep breath, knowing full well what Yang was talking about, or at least Yang hoped. Thirteenth try on getting Blake in the know from the start, and she was still having a hard time figuring out what she thought at this point.

"I think that you couldn't make this up if you tried. But how can all of it be real? How can any of it be real? I kept reading looking for answers, but all I got was more questions! How long have you been doing this? _How_ are you doing this?"

"One question at a time, please. As for how long, I stopped keeping track, but if I had to guess... maybe a couple hundred years, total? It's been a _long_ time."

 _Hundreds of years._ Had it really been so long? For the more recent iterations, she had been living three years at a time, but to put a big, grand number on it like that was...

Her train of thought was interrupted when Blake spoke again, "And you've been trying to do what? Save the world? Defeat this 'Salem' person?"

"You read the book, didn't you? But, yes and yes. Well, yes and kind of yes? The 'win condition' is for Salem to die, but I've been trying to make the world a better place, too."

"You say that like they aren't the same thing."

"They _aren't._ Blake, I have _several lifetimes_ worth of combat experience. I know things about Aura that, honestly, nobody should know. I could waltz into their stronghold and kill them all without breaking a sweat if I wanted to. But just getting rid of them doesn't fix the problem they've caused" she paused, hoping that Blake was understanding what she was trying to tell her.

"Prove it. Do something so crazy with your Aura, I have no other option but to believe you. To believe that this isn't all just some- some _insane_ fever dream or _you_ going crazy, or-"

"Ok, calm down. Let me think about what I can do that will blow your mind but not, you know, _completely_ blow your mind."

Yang took a deep breath and held it in. She began to release her Aura, and a faint glow radiated from her.

"You're not showing me anything I don't already know how to do."

"I'm not done yet."

She turned up the intensity. The faint glow turned into a blinding light, and then, transformed entirely.

When the blinding light subsided, Yang was sitting next to Blake as she had been, except enveloped in golden fire. But there was no heat.

"This is what happens when you have hundreds of years to perfect your own Aura and Semblance. I no longer need to get hurt to fuel it, and I'm far more in control than I ever was as you knew me. This level of mastery... Blake, nobody should know how to do this. Most people stop trying once they've unlocked their Semblance, and very few ever use Aura as more than a shield. This is what it is to turn your soul outward and use it to _enhance every aspect of yourself."_

In truth, this was a parlor trick. Lighting herself on fire was just the easiest way to impress Blake in this instance. Though what she said was no less true, the actual method of doing what she said was much less flashy.

Blake had to collect her jaw from the ground before speaking again, "But then, if you're so incredibly powerful, how can you ever fail? Shouldn't you be untouchable?"

Yang sighed, letting her Aura return to its normal state. Blake still wasn't understanding. Next time, if there had to be a next time, she would just skip the book and try telling her directly, because clearly the book wasn't helping as much as she thought it would.

"Blake, it's not about being unbeatable. Believe it or not, I can still be worn down, I can still let my guard down, and when that happens, I can still die. About thirteen tries ago, I had almost everything I was hoping for, and then I let my guard down _and got killed by falling rocks,_ and now I have to get back to that point all over again, all while remembering to avoid getting crushed."

There was a long pause before Blake spoke again, "So, what is it that you hope to accomplish before you beat her?"

It was Yang's turn to provide the long pause, "... it used to be little things. You, there with me. Then it was Faunus Equality. Then it was..." she trailed off, hoping she could avoid this particular answer, even though she'd been here before and knew she couldn't.

"Then it was, what?"

"Then it was saving Sun."

"Saving Sun? The annoying one?"

"Yes. Though I've had years to get to know him, and you've had significantly less. He's amazing, Blake. He's got a big heart and always does his best to make the best of a bad situation, and... I've had to watch him die _hundreds of times, because he chose to do something that I couldn't do_."

"And what's that? What is this thing that you, with all of your supposed power and experience, couldn't do?"

"Saving _you._ Every single iteration, _something happens,_ and the first few times, I tried to save you, and I was _always_ killed. It took me a long while to figure out that _one of us_ had to die there, and it couldn't be me."

Silence was the only answer she got to that, so she continued.

"Blake, eventually I...I stopped trying. At some point, I became OK with him making that sacrifice, with him taking an unavoidable fatal hit for you. I've had to watch one of my best friends die over and over _and over,_ and I could never do anything to stop it. When I die, I get sent back to that day at Beacon. Dying before defeating Salem _isn't an option for me._ Every single time I tried to change that particular instance, I would die, you would die, or he would die."

Tears were welling in her eyes. She tried to hold on to them, even though she had been here before and knew should would fail.

"Blake, what am I? What kind of person am I to decide who lives and who dies? To put one life above another? I cry over his body every time, after the battle, but I can never forget that I _allowed it to happen."_

Through teary eyes she looked at Blake, finding her face unreadable.

 _"What is the point of having power like I do if I can't even save one guy?!"_

She felt Blake wrap her arms around her, and for what seemed like the first time in a long while, heard her speak in a tone that she had previously had to put in years to illicit from her:

Worriedly, "What do you need me to do?"

Yang looked up and found that Blake was doing her best to put on a warm smile, a thing that she knew Blake had very little experience doing at this point in time.

"Just...be there. Come along for the ride in the know."

"Well, It's all a bit much to wrap my head around. But I know that I'll be there at your side for all of it. And who knows? Maybe all you needed to do to save Sun was to do what you just did."

Yang's only response was a weak, "Yeah, maybe."

Even though she knew she was wrong.

That was why she was here again, after all. She had died there again, trying to save Sun and Blake, hoping that bringing Blake into the know would change the outcome.

Maybe telling Sun would help.

It hurt, more than anything she had ever felt, to know that the only thing she was hung up on, the only thing between her and finally being free, was having to accept that one of her best friends had to die.


	3. Chapter 03: Damaged

Yang waited for Blake to fall asleep before heading downstairs to talk to her father. She felt that he was at least owed some explanation. Better than just up and leaving one day without telling him anything. Which she had done before, and regretted.

He always had a hard time getting to sleep after the Fall. So it was that she always found the night to be the best time to have this talk, when the day was over and the sun was gone. A good time for somber talk.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she found him sitting in the kitchen, seemingly lost in thought. She let out a sigh to begin,

"Hey Dad, we need to talk."

He looked up from his contemplations and directed his focus to her, taking a moment to collect himself.

"Yeah, I guess we do. Pull up a seat if you want." he gestured to the chair on the other side of the table from him, "I think we have a lot to discuss."

She took the seat and let him go first.

"Yang, I know you've been through a lot in the past few months. I was expecting you to have some issues adjusting, and I was prepared to help you through it. I thought I was ready to help you stand again," he paused, presumably leaving room for her to comment, or to collect himself before continuing.

She offered no comment, nodding for him to continue.

He sighed before continuing, "But seeing you like this, like it doesn't even bother you... I think that's even worse. You _lost an arm_ , how can you act like it's nothing?"

She let the question hang in the air for a moment before answering, "Because I've lost my arm hundreds of times at this point."

"I thought you wanted to have a serious talk, not joke around."

"I do, and I wasn't," she paused, letting out another sigh before continuing, "I'm not worried about it because I've been through this before. And because a replacement is coming in tomorrow anyway."

It took a moment for her father to respond to that. She guessed at why as she waited; She liked to think that she had a good relationship with her father. Close enough that either could tell when the other was lying. He was probably struggling with knowing that she wasn't lying, and knowing that what she was telling him would imply things that shouldn't be possible.

"Ok. Let's say I believe you. What is this? Time travel?"

"Of a sort. I live, I die, I wake up in bed at beacon."

"How? Why?"

She asked herself that first question often. What could cause something like this? The best that she and Ozpin could figure was that she was in the same boat he was, cursed by the Gods in an effort to stop Salem. But it was only a guess; she couldn't know until Salem was killed, and even then, she might never know for sure.

"Yang?"

She looked up, startled. How was it that she could have this conversation so many times, yet still lose herself in thought the same way every time?

She sighed before answering,"I don't know, really. All I have is a guess. I talked with Ozpin about it- a previous version of Ozpin, not current Ozpin- and the best we can figure is that there's a specific person that needs to die. I haven't succeeded in causing that to happen without dying first yet, which is why I'm here, talking with you about it, for... I don't even know how many times I've done this anymore."

"Why you?"

Which she figured actually meant _why my family?_ He had lost his wives to this background war, one driven away by it, one killed, and he still didn't know _why_. And now both of his daughters were caught in it. He at least deserved to know something. But how much to tell?

"I wish I knew."

"What about Ruby?"

"I know what you mean by that. 'You'll make sure Ruby's OK, right?'" She prepared herself to break his heart. All the times she'd done it, and it still wasn't easy. "I wish I could tell you that, yes, I'll be by her side, protecting her. But I can't. I can't watch over her and do everything I need to do. But I know that she doesn't need me. She has made it through this without me before, or at least as far as I've been able to get, and you can take comfort in knowing that."

"That's supposed to comfort me? I'm supposed to find comfort in knowing that she's out there risking her life, and you're not going to be doing _anything_ to help her?"

"I didn't say that I wouldn't help her, I said that I can't be watching over her. I'll be helping her in my own way; after all, two groups working for the same goal usually ease the work of the other. Share the load and all that."

"And what will you be doing? Who'll be in this group of yours?"

"In short? Running around the world trying to fix things. As for team composition, well, I'll have Blake. Eventually we'll pick up a third. That's been enough in my experience."

He didn't need to know about her fourth member. She had never been part of the group, so much as she was just a person who tagged along, having lost her own way.

Telling him about that definitely would not put him at ease.

After a moment passed, she spoke up again, "Look, if you're still worried about it, we can have a sparring session tomorrow once the arm comes in. I at least know that knowing I can handle myself will put you at ease there. If you're still worried about Ruby after that, you can go after her yourself."

"And how does that turn out for me?"

"Again, I don't know. I don't hang around with her and hers unless our paths happen to cross, and, except for one instance very early on, that doesn't happen much." As usual, he wasn't satisfied with that response, so she continued, "But, when that does happen, she doesn't see fit to tell me that you've died, which I take to mean that you haven't by that point."

"Well that's something, I suppose."

"There is one other thing about that, though."

"And what's that?"

"Well, where she is, I mean, where she's going, the situation is going to be a bit... volatile. Until I get out there and start ruining things for these people, it's going to stay that way. So if you could at least put off going after her until, say, Haven Academy resumes classes, that would help a lot."

"And who are _these people_? You said earlier that you think somebody specific needs to die, but you haven't told me who or why."

"It's a long story, but the short version is that there's a group out there plotting to throw everything into chaos, and, well, let's just say that I'm planning to throw _them_ into chaos, and the person that I presume needs to die happens to lead this little group."

"The White Fang?"

"No, this group is sort of... behind the White Fang's recent actions. Adam Taurus may be teetering on the edge of insanity, but he never would've attacked Beacon the way he did if there weren't somebody strong-arming him into doing it."

He raised his hand at that, "Let me stop you right there. This is starting to sound like crazy conspiracy stuff, and while I still don't feel like you're lying to me, I also prefer to be able to sleep at night. I'm better off not knowing about shadowy secret organizations that use other, crazier organizations to get what they want." He lowered his hand and softened his voice before speaking again, "Honestly, it sounds like you're in over your head. Both of you."

"Well, I'm not. I've been at this for centuries, and Ruby has Qrow to help her."

"Oh? I don't suppose you had a hand in having that arranged, did you?"

She held up her stub, "Yep." As always, Tai didn't find any humor in that, so she cleared her throat and continued,"I told you that I can't be there watching over her, but I have my ways of helping her. Asking Qrow to shadow her works two-fold for me. Firstly, having an experienced Huntsman looking out for her, and secondly, having a sure way to get to her when I need to."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, certain things beyond my control are going to happen, and those certain things mean that I'm going to have to cross paths with a certain coop flying Raven." Here Tai opened his mouth to interject, but she continued, "And before you say anything, I know how her Semblance works, I know who she's connected to, and I'm going to use that to skip from her to Ruby."

That seemed to calm him down. He had good reasons for being apprehensive about her spending time with Raven, and the whole point of this conversation was to put him at ease, not further worry him.

Still, there was concern in his voice when he spoke again, "And then what?"

"And then, we part ways. I go my way, she goes hers. For the most part, I don't know what happens with her after that, only that she'll be alright."

He took a moment to mull that over, "Ok."

"Ok?"

"Yeah. Everything you've told me sounds ridiculous and insane, but I believe that you're telling me the truth. I do have one more question for you, though."

"And what's that?"

"Why do you pretend like that?"

"What do you mean?" _Why do I even try?_

"If you've lived and died so many times, this is probably not the first time you've had this conversation with me. Why do you act like it is?"

"Because it's been a few years for me since I've been here. It's not like I'm repeating one single day over and over-"

"Yang, please, you know what I meant."

 _How does he always know?_

She hesitated for a moment before answering, "Because I want to appear normal, I suppose. If I could be bothered, I'd eventually figure out a method to tell you exactly what you need to know. But I don't _want_ to."

"I guess I can understand that. I won't press any further if you don't want to tell any more," he reached across the table and held her hand, "but I want you to know that I'm here if you need to talk about it."

"Well, that's the problem. I can't be here, and you can't be in two places at once."

"Is that why Blake is here? To provide support for you?"

"Blake is here because I consider her a friend." She snapped at him, withdrawing her hand from his. Immediately, regret set in and she placed her hand back on his before continuing, "But, that is one thing that I have her around for, yes." she hung her head low, "Gods, just saying that felt wrong. I feel like I'm using her and I can't stand it."

"You aren't using her if it's something she would do anyway."

"That doesn't stop me feeling like I am."

"How many times have we had this conversation? Just like this?"

"Dozens."

"And you still feel this way? After me telling you repeatedly?"

"Obviously."

"And you know what I'm about to say."

"Yes, and I can't just _do something different_. I've found a way that works, I can't deviate from it just to make myself feel better."

"Have you tried? Even a small thing?"

Yang paused at that. What would a small thing even be? Anything changing could drastically affect things down the line- she had found a working way, she just had to do it and survive.

"No. Even changing a small thing could affect later things in big ways. I've gotten so close, I can't throw that all away just to ease my pain a little."

"Ease your pain a lot. Yang, you are _suffering_. You can't go on like this."

That was new. What had she done differently to get that response? Was it the way she was behaving? Was there something off with her?

 _Things are changing and I don't know why. If it can happen here, it can happen later._

Her gaze shifted to behind her father...

...and settled on the kitchen knife set.

 _I'm going back. I need to restart._

Tai noticed her gaze shift, and it didn't take him long to put two and two together.

"Yang, please don't."

Yang launched herself across the table, and Tai leapt up from his own seat, grabbing her and tackling her to the floor.

" _Let me go!_ "

"Think about what you're doing! You're trying to send yourself back, over what?!"

" _Get off!"_

Tai held tighter.

She was struggling hard, but there's only so much a one-armed emotionally compromised person can do while pinned to the ground by somebody she is unwilling to hurt.

Eventually her adrenaline ran out, and, realizing what she had nearly done, she began to softly weep.

A moment passed before her father removed himself from on top of her, less than certain that she was no longer a threat to herself.

Without taking his eyes off of her, he called for Zwei. The Corgi took a moment to arrive, having previously been asleep.

"Go get Blake."

Zwei gave an affirmative bark and went up the stairs.

Yang's weeping gave way to quiet sniffling as she curled up against the wall.

Zwei came back down the stairs, followed by Blake.

It seemed to take a moment for her to register what she was looking at.

"What happened here?"

Yang wouldn't respond, so Tai did, "Did she tell you about her, uh..."

"Time travel thing?"

"Yeah. That saves me a lot of explaining. She told you about how it happens?"

"Every time she dies, she..." she trailed off as the dots connected, "she tried to send herself back? To kill herself?"

He nodded, "Apparently. We were talking, and she just suddenly made a move for the knives. I pinned her to the floor and held her there until she wore herself out."

None of this was registering to Yang. She was stuck trying to figure out what she'd done differently.

 _All of this is different. What did I do?_

Her father called her back, in a gentle tone, "Yang, look at me."

He waited for her to comply before continuing, "Clearly, this whole ordeal is taking its toll on you. It's not worth succeeding if you lose your mind doing it, so please, do something different. Talk to Blake, stay with Ruby, just do _something._ "

 _Blake._

 _Maybe..._

If there's anybody she could trust with that sort of power, it would be Blake.

The sort of change she could watch and try to manage, that hopefully won't spiral out of control.

She nodded to herself before speaking up, "Blake, I told you that I learned things that nobody should know." She paused, watching Blake, who nodded. "I'm going to teach you some of them."


	4. Chapter 04: Reaching out

Refreshed and rearmed, Yang was ready to set out. She had changed into her heavier, sturdier riding outfit, fitted her arm, painted it, and briefed Blake on the first steps they would be taking on this long journey of theirs.

Blake herself would need new equipment, which they would have to procure elsewhere, as Yang didn't have a second set of gear that either of them would deem sufficient for the task ahead.

All things that always happened.

Teaching Blake about advanced Aura techniques? Entirely new experience. It was going...

...well, it was going.

Yang began, "Alright, I'd like to show you how I work with Aura. However, to do that, you need to be able to see Aura." Noting Blake's rather confused look, she hurried to continue, "I mean, sure, you can already see Aura, but you need to be able to see Aura _with_ Aura."

Blake sat on the bare dirt in the middle of the yard, waiting for Yang to get her act together.

Exasperated, Yang took the moment to collect her thoughts. Doing is easy, teaching is hard. Where to start?

She clapped her hands, "Alright, from the very most basic of basics. What is Semblance, in relation to Aura?"

Blake gave a sigh, "Semblance is the manifestation of Aura, and Aura is the manifestation of the Soul."

"Right, but have you ever thought about what that means? For instance, take my Semblance." She held her left hand out, "My Semblance lights my hair on fire, or rather, _turns it into_ fire," she lit a fireball in her outstretched hand, "but would you ever have thought that I can actually manifest my Aura _as_ fire, without triggering the rest of my Semblance?"

Seeing that the meaning of this was sinking in- such a casual thing was, in actuality, a display of absolute control over her own Semblance- she allowed the fireball to dissipate and resumed speaking, "But you're just starting to learn, so we have to start at the utmost basic of basics, which is controlling your Aura." Seeing that Blake was about to object, she cut her off, "And I don't mean turning it on and off, I mean really controlling it. Focusing it, moving it around, choosing between defensive, enhancing, even healing Aura."

"You can choose?"

Yang gave a small huff, "Well, yes and no. It's kind of complex, and we really shouldn't be focusing on something like that when you can't even control your Aura on the most basic level yet."

"And how do I do that?"

"Well, for me, it helps to envision my Aura as fire or light, then work from there." She held a finger up, "There's only one trick to this, and that's that it's easier to do than you'd expect it to be, especially if your Semblance involves something that is easy to visualize. So, with your Aura raised, imagine your Aura as your shadow, then expand that shadow until you can feel my Aura."

Blake responded, somewhat disbelievingly, "It's really just that simple?"

"It works for me. What works for me might not work for you, but I'm pretty confident that it will. Go ahead and try it."

She reached out with her own Aura- otherwise she wouldn't be able to sense Blake reaching out with hers- and waited for Blake to attempt to scratch the surface of Aura.

Blake began by closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, which was unnecessary, but Yang allowed it for now. The goal was simply to get her to successfully reach out and feel with her own Aura, not to make her do it the most efficient way. Admittedly, at first, it would be hard to see with Aura while also seeing with your eyes, so letting her do that was probably for the best.

But she would need to crack down on her about it later if she persisted in doing it.

It took a moment, but bit by bit, she felt Blake's Aura expand. She heard her breath catch, having just felt Aura _with_ Aura. A rather strange sensation to feel for the first time, to say the least.

"Alright, now expand until you can feel my Soul."

"There's a difference?"

She nodded, "Semblance is the manifestation of your Aura, Aura is the manifestation of your Soul. Your Soul is different in that it _is_ you, while your Aura is a manifestation of it that you can use. It's probably easier for you to just see the difference for yourself."

Blake nodded, taking another deep breath. Yang felt the shadow reach out further, cautiously. Eventually it reached her, and Blake didn't seem as surprised this time, though she did seem puzzled, noting, "It feels so... different.'

Yang nodded again, "Now, try searching for Dad."

Blake nodded, and she felt her shadow expand further, meaning she was about to realize that you can't reach out in all directions infinitely like that. Blake hit her limit about four feet behind her, which would maybe reach the front door of the house, given where Blake was in the yard. It took her a moment, but eventually, the shadow receded, and she experimented a bit with the shape of it. She settled on a needle shape, then repositioned to face the house, and stretched beyond Yang's own field.

Yang formed her own needle, then expanded it upward like a hand fan, performing a quick scan of the nearby woods. Confirming the presence of the red Aura with a dim soul in a distant tree, she returned her attention to Blake, who seemed to be having some trouble locating her father.

"Is he not in the kitchen? I thought he said he was going to make us lunch."

"I already checked the kitchen, he's not there."

"Are you needle-shaped or fanned out?"

"What do you-" Blake cut herself off, realizing mid-sentence what Yang was talking about, "Oh. _Oh_." Apparently having figured out the fan shape, she almost immediately found Tai, reporting, "He's upstairs looking out the window at us."

She thought for a moment. Clearly, he was still shook up over last night- he had every right to be- but he didn't need to worry about her. She started toward the house, instructing Blake, "Try to do it with your eyes open, I'll talk to him and see what's up." Before she crossed into the house, she shouted, "and try different shapes with it!"

As she ascended the stairs, an idea occurred to her: a live demonstration would certainly help speed things along with Blake's training, something she could safely observe outside of live combat.

 _Sometimes, it's just easier to show than it is to tell._

Maybe soothing his worries could wait, just a little while.

She burst into the room, and before he could say anything, "Hey, can I get your help with something?"

He managed to get the beginning of a nod out before she was turned around and heading back down the stairs. She was back outside less than a minute from when she moved to go in, and Blake was appropriately surprised, "What happened to talking to him and seeing what was up?"

Yang responded excitedly, "Later, new idea, live demonstration!"

By complete coincidence, both Blake and Tai asked, at the same time "What?"

She started by pointing at Blake, "You sit there and observe with your Aura," she shifted her pointing finger to her father, "as we spar!"

There was silence for a moment, before both agreed, though not with as much enthusiasm as she was hoping for. Deflated, she instructed Blake to sit at the edge of the yard, where she could safely observe from with her Aura. Then, she took her own position in the center, facing her father. He had assumed a ready stance, while she did not. Seeing that he seemed to be waiting for her to assume a ready stance of her own, she told him plainly, "Just come at me whenever you're ready."

He nodded, then began circling her.

She raised her Aura and focused most of it into a single point, then moved that point to the end of her left index finger. With the rest, she reached out and tagged him, to maintain awareness of him even in what would normally be a blind spot. To the untrained observer, she appeared to stand still, not even bothering to turn to face her father as he circled.

He picked his angle and went in for his first strike, coming in from behind and to the left, which would normally be a blind spot, as she was still facing the way she had been.

He brought his left leg up for a kick, which she moved to intercept with her finger, stopping it cold against the point of focused Aura, his Aura flickering slightly in response. He brought his foot back down and threw a right-handed punch, which would land on the back of her head.

From where her finger was to where it would need to go, it might take too long to move into position to intercept. Aura was far less limited, so she moved the point to the back of her head instead, again stopping him cold, and again his Aura flickered.

He leapt back, attempting to figure out what she had done. She turned her head to look at him, noting that he was no worse for wear, his Aura hardly diminished despite taking the full brunt of his own blows. They were light then, most likely only probing strikes.

He seemed to take a moment to assess the situation. She figured that he would go for more refined probing strikes next, seeing as his initial probe was met with an impenetrable, invisible wall for all he could tell.

She took the initiative this time, moving in while feeding Aura into her arm, enhancing the muscles within... apparently more than her seventeen year old, somewhat out of shape arm could handle. Muscles tore under the strain, not prepared to bear the straight power-up that she tried to force upon it.

She lamented not having a twenty year old, war-ready body anymore.

Tai stepped to the side, easily evading her as she was distracted by the pain in her arm.

Thankfully, Aura is good for that. She focused her Aura around her arm, allowing the normal healing effect to begin, forcing it further than it would normally go due to it being held there, until there was nothing left to repair. Still, healing anything more complex than small cuts drained considerably more Aura, meaning that she had just accidentally put herself in a weaker position.

This was not at all going well, but at least Blake was getting lots of material to look at.

Tai took the opportunity to close in again, throwing another punch at her back. Yang focused her Aura into a single point again, now with considerably less to work with, blocking but not quite stopping the blow. Now, he would register that he felt something, and that something gave way a bit.

He actually seemed concerned with her complete lack of basic combat strategies, "Are you not going to even try to dodge anything I do?"

"I would if I were doing this for fun or for practice. But, this is mostly for Blake's benefit." She considered for a moment, then continued, "Although, I've already utilized, or tried to utilize, the basic Aura techniques that she needed to see. And, seeing as I've used up a good chunk of my Aura to heal a self-inflicted injury, we should probably go ahead and stop."

He relaxed his stance, now having his turn at deflating, "Oh. Wait, when did you hurt yourself?"

She raised her left arm, "Tried to put some more oomph behind a punch with Aura, turns out my body wasn't ready for that, tore up a bunch of muscles."

He asked, rather disbelievingly, "How old are you, again?"

"Biological age or actual age? One I can answer, the other I stopped counting."

"Why would you do something like that if you're so old and, supposedly, so experienced?"

"Because, a few months ago, I had a twenty year old body that had been trained to handle that sort of thing. Now I'm seventeen again, my body is weaker, I usually don't try to use Aura like that in my sparring, especially against you, _especially_ this early in."

"I suppose that makes sense," he conceded.

"And besides, we really need to get going. Bit of a tight schedule on the first event we need to get to, lives at stake, long distance to cover in a short time." She did a quick scan of the forest again, confirming that Raven was still there.

 _Shortcuts are great, if only she were willing to come down and talk to me..._

And then she disappeared. Which was about right, given the time. Off to talk to Qrow...

"Really, right now?"

"Yes, right now." She turned to Blake, who had already pulled Bumblebee out of the shed, "You remember how to start it up, right?"

Blake responded by revving the bike up, adding, "I'll even drive the first leg if you want."

Yang was quick to respond, "Sure, why not? I know you've driven bikes before, and it's not all that far to the port."

Blake did not seem excited at the prospect, apparently having made the offer in jest.

Tai seemed to be on the verge of laughter, "Wow. If I didn't believe that you had been looping through time, I'd ask who you were and where my daughter went!"

She turned back to her father, genuinely puzzled- and making a mental note of another inconsistency- asking, "What?"

"The Yang I know would never let anybody else touch Bumblebee, unless..." he regarded Blake, "maybe..." a small smile formed on his face as he said it, gaining entirely too much insight into her reasoning for her liking.

Yang didn't really have a response for that, trying and failing to not blush. Thankfully, Blake couldn't see her face from where she was, as she was pulling Bumblebee around in preparation to set off. Before they could go, Yang wanted to have some parting words- not a thing she ever needed to do, but something she always did anyway.

"So, have you decided what you'll do?"

He lost his mirth at that, responding, "Not yet. If things are going to be as hectic as you say, I don't really know how much help I'll be. Honestly, I'd probably just try to convince Ruby to come home, but you know how she is."

She nodded, knowing exactly what he meant. She hesitated, debating whether or not to go off her beaten path. So much has already changed, even if it is a bunch of small things. Presumably they won't effect much.

What's one more?

She started, suddenly considerably more serious, "You know, a very, _very_ long time ago, you told me that it's sometimes better to work around your problems than it is to confront them head-on. Obviously, I've had considerably more time to address my problems than anybody else probably ever has or will." She saw that his face was now just as serious as hers, she continued, "I've overcome my old problems... including Mom. But, because of the whole looping thing, any progress she makes is just... gone."

He thought for a moment before responding, "So you've... turned her around before?"

"Well, I wouldn't say turned around, more... shown her a new direction she can go with her life."

"If you've done it before, I'm sure you can do it again." He have a slight chuckle, "Now that I think about it, you probably know her better than I ever did."

"Before you get excited, I can't guarantee that she'll come back to you, to us. I'm just saying that she'll be..." she searched for a word that would fit, finding none in particular, and settling on, "...better."

"Yang, look. If this is something you know you can do, and that you want to do, you don't need my approval to do it. But if it puts you at ease, I'll give it. Considering that you aren't currently a marauding bandit, and that you've apparently managed to turn Raven into a better person consistently, I don't really have a problem with it."

That was considerably more relieving to hear than she thought it would be.

She gave him a quick hug before getting on Bumblebee's rear seat, and she and Blake started the first leg of their journey to Mistral.

Some minutes later, and too far down the road to go back, especially after she insisted that they were on a tight schedule, she realized that neither of them ate lunch.

Oh well. Her being slightly hungry for a day wouldn't cause Adam to suddenly decide to delay his assassination attempt on Sienna, and they really were on a tight schedule for that.

Unless a certain bird could be convinced to take them straight to Mistral, that is...

Then she remembered that she really should've asked Blake if she actually learned anything from watching the short match. Something she would have to remember for next time.

This is going to be a long iteration...


	5. Chapter 05: Lost things

It was a beautiful day at sea. Or bay. It wasn't such a wide space between Patch and Sanus to be called a sea, she supposed. Specifics of terminology were not a high priority on her mind right now. That space was currently occupied by two women, each for drastically different reasons.

The first was Blake, currently propping her forearms against the railing of the ferry with her back arched over it, basking in the sun- or at least she appeared to be, to the untrained observer. Yang was fully aware of what she was actually doing, with her eyes closed and her breathing slow... but frankly, she was too busy being captivated by the most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes on to notice.

And she meant that. She had lived hundreds of years, been all over Remnant, and she absolutely meant that. There was no competitor in her eyes.

"Are you watching?" Blake asked, under the impression that Yang was supposed to be watching her attempt at capturing her mother. Who just so happened to be the _other_ woman currently at the top of her priority list. Although, _capturing_ was too aggressive a word for her tastes.

It had been like this before, of course. Her mother sat near the top of the ship as a raven, where Yang had no hope of catching her without drawing unwanted attention. However, this time, there was one key difference.

This time, Blake was versed in the basics of Aura manipulation, and she was ready to experiment.

"Of course I am," she half-lied. She had only asked if she was watching, not _what_ she was watching. Still, having taken a mentor role, she supposed that romantics would have to take a back seat for a while.

She shifted her focus back to following Blake's Aura, which was currently enveloping Raven. The probe was needle-shaped, although the distance wasn't particularly far; at the end of it, a sphere of aura was pooling, centered slightly behind Raven, who appeared to be busy staring down at them. It seemed a long distance for a shadow clone to drop, even with all the aura it would be loaded with.

She made her concern known to Blake, "Do you think that'll be enough?"

Blake opened her eyes halfway and looked at her, struggling to maintain focus on her new sixth sense, "It'll have to be, because it's all I have."

She wasn't lying. The needle of Aura was now as thin as a hair, so much of it was being invested into the sphere.

Blake continued, "What's the worst that could happen?" completely seriously.

She decided to be blunt, "Worst case? You instantly fall unconscious and stay that way until your Aura replenishes itself naturally." She thought on that for a moment, then resumed, "Maybe you should dial it back a bit. Surely it doesn't need _that_ much."

Blake drew some of her Aura back from the sphere, then asked, "Ready?"

She nodded, though Blake couldn't see that, "As I'll ever be."

And then a few things happened at once.

First, Blake severed the sphere from the end of the needle, resulting in her collapsing from Aura exhaustion, her relaxed lean over the rail becoming a slump against it. Second, the sphere transformed into a shadow clone, which formed with its hands already around Raven, catching her easily. Third, the clone jumped down from the top of the ferry, a distance which a normal shadow clone would not be able to handle.

The clone landed hard, but stood immediately, her durability being vastly increased by so much Aura.

The clone handed Raven off to Yang, commenting, "I think she overdid it by quite a bit," before returning herself and her Aura to Blake, replenishing most of what had been lost.

Considering how much was returned, she couldn't help but agree with the clone's assessment. They had grossly overestimated how much additional Aura the clone would need to survive the fall without dispersing, and the ability to speak was far above a normal clone's capacity.

She waited for Blake to recover, which only took about a minute, before addressing the bird in her hands... which had been squawking loudly since the clone had laid hands on it.

"You know, you are terrible at pretending to be a bird."

The bird kept squawking, apparently intent on making Yang look more crazy than she was.

She lowered her voice, "I'll keep this short. I know that you think something is up with me. And you're right," Raven apparently decided to pay attention , as she stopped squawking, " and I'll tell you about it to save you the trouble of figuring it out yourself." She paused, looking for some affirmative response from the bird in her hands. Receiving none, she continued, "But not here. Come back in two days, at night. We should be able to talk more openly then."

She released the bird, which promptly flew away and out of sight.

 _Well, that was easy._

Yang returned her attention to Blake, who had resumed her basking in the sun as if nothing had hapened. Ideally, this would make nearby passengers wonder if what they had just seen was real, though Yang wasn't particularly concerned about it. Let them think she was crazy, it didn't really affect anything as far as she was aware.

"Your clone told me that she thinks you overdid it."

Blake nodded slightly, "By how much?"

She considered for a moment before answering, "I think you could have used half as much and it would have worked just fine."

Blake nodded again, "At least we figured that out in a relatively safe place. That could've been pretty bad if I had decided to try that in live combat."

Yang sighed, "Yeah, it would've been. We'll keep working on it." She paused for a moment, deciding to be a bit more firm, "But first, we should really break you out of that eyes closed habit. Relaxing on the railing is a handy excuse, but you can't rely on it."

Blake hung her head further over the railing, "I know."

Yang nodded, but persisted, "I know it's odd to see that way, and difficult to do both at once, but we need to focus on breaking you of it early, before it takes root."

Blake offered a quiet _Mhm_ in response, then moved on to another subject, "I'd like to ask you something."

"Oh?"

She stood up straight, still leaning on the railing but no longer lounging on it, "Why are we helping her? In the book, you described her as-"

Yang cut her off, "I know what I said about her. I know what's she's done, what she's been through. I know she doesn't even have a good reason for most of it." She let the comment hang for a moment before continuing, "But I'll give her a chance anyway. A chance that she doesn't really deserve, because that's what she needs. She needs to see that there is goodness in the world still- that there is something _worth fighting for_."

Blake grew silent, lost in thought.

After a moment, Yang said, "Simply put, I'm helping her for the same reasons that you want to help him." Blake turned to her, slightly taken aback, "You're not _that_ hard to read. They both believe that there's no turning back from where they are now- they'll never give themselves the chance they need. _We_ believe that they can turn back. That's why we have to do it for them."

Again, silence fell. After a long moment, Blake nodded, stating simply, "I understand."

Yang nodded, "That's not saying that either of them will be the most... _agreeable_ people ever. For instance, my mother is, well... "

Blake provided, "She doesn't really see the appeal?"

She gave a chuckle, "Something like that. And A- _he_ is... well, to say that he's well and away off his rocker at the moment might be a bit of an understatement."

Blake's expression faltered, and her gaze grew distant, "Yeah." Her voice seemed shaky, "He just seems so far gone now... I don't know if I can reach him anymore. I wonder if I ever could..."

Yang put her good hand on her best friend's shoulder and gave a light tug, "Hey, you don't have to do it alone. I'm here to support you just as much as you're here to support me. That's what partners do." She gave another tug, "that's what _friends_ do."

That got a smile from her, but she remained glum, "I just... I don't know how I feel about him anymore. I know that he needs help, but I don't know if I'm capable of providing the kind of help he needs."

Yang nodded slightly, "I know." She had little else to offer. Adam turning around had always been something that Blake had wanted, but that she herself had no particular interest in.

She looked away from Blake for a moment to check the progress of the ferry, noting that they had already entered the harbor.

She pushed off the railing and stretched, noting, "Looks like we're about to dock."

Blake nodded, "Time to get going again."

"Not quite," She made a point of looking Blake over, resisting the temptation to stop and ogle any one particular part of her excellent figure, "We need to get some shopping done while we're in town. Stock up on ammo, small food stuffs, and you could use a change of clothes."

"What's wrong with what I have on?"

"For starters, we're going to be all over the place. Places where it's warm, where it's cold, rainy, incredibly dry, all with no guarantee of suitable shelter. What you have is fine for urban work, but you need something more durable and all-weather for a serious journey."

Blake looked herself over for a moment before admitting, "It _is_ getting a bit small on me."

Yang nodded in agreement, "Well then, let's go shopping."

The two departed the ship and headed into town, though they were stopped only a short ways off the ship by a man in a red and black suit, carrying a large box.

An event that had apparently completely slipped her mind.

 _Alright, interacting with people not in the know about the time travel thing, here we go._

He started off by introducing himself not by name, but by association, "Mr. Xiong sent me." He waited for a response, getting one in the form of a nod from each of them, and continued, "It didn't sit well with him, what happened to ya, so he had a bunch of us search the ruins for this," he thrust the box toward her, clearly not used to performing this sort of task.

Yang took the offered package, opening it to reveal her lost weapon: the right-handed portion of Ember Celica, still in combat mode. She made a bit of a show of rubbing it with her good hand, trying to feign astonishment as best she could.

She produced a small smile, though more at the somewhat amusing thought that she still didn't know what she had done to get this result, than actually being glad to have it back.

Blake spoke up, "I thought that Adam's semblance completely obliterated the things that it cut. How is this still intact?"

"Maybe because it was only attached to my arm, and not part of it?" Which reminded her... she returned her attention to Junior's underling, adding a bit of disgust to her tone, "You didn't find my arm with it, did you?"

He gaped like a fish, mulling over the words for a moment, "N-no. But there was a bit of blood, and we cleaned it as best we could, although we couldn't figure out how to, uh, make it small."

She took it out of the box, which she handed back to the delivery man, and flicked the weapon to one side, causing it to collapse into its concealed mode. Now holding the entire assembly in the palm of her new hand, she asked him, "Why?,"

He stammered and waved his hands as he spoke, "Well, as I said, Mr. Xiong didn't feel that you deserved whatcha got, and, despite your previous disagreements, feels that you're, and these are his words, _a good kid with a tendency to get a little angry at times._ And well..." he gestured at nothing in particular, "times like these, we all gotta help each other out, don'tcha think?"

She smiled with genuine warmth at the sentiment, "Of course we should."

The man nodded, then departed, seeming eager to get back to his usual sort of work.

As he walked away, Blake turned to Yang, asking, "'Mr. Xiong?' As in Junior, the go-to guy for info on the local underworld?"

She kept her eyes on the messenger while speaking, "Yeah. He can be a bit of a jerk, but he's an alright enough guy when times get really rough. He's not particularly nice, but he at least has enough heart to not take advantage of a situation like this."

Yang waited for Junior's delivery boy to disappear from sight, then offered the weapon to Blake, "You want it? I don't really need it anymore seeing as the replacement has a built-in gun, and there's nothing wrong with having variety in your weaponry."

Blake looked at it for a moment before taking it, but not putting it on, "What do I usually do here?"

Yang was quick to retort, "What does that have to do with what you're going to do? What you've done in the past has no bearing on what you choose to do now."

Blake looked it over for a moment, then put it on her right arm, incorrectly. Yang adjusted it for her, commenting, "You know, a little bit of yellow looks pretty good on you." To herself, she noted that just about anything would look good on her.

Blake blushed slightly, but said nothing.

Yang cleared her throat, "Well, with that out of the way, _now_ we can go shopping."

Nearly two hours later, after quite a lot of lien had been exchanged, they were making their final checks before heading off. One of the first expenses had been a set of saddlebags for Bumblebee. Bumblebee being the sort of bike that it is, they were rather expensive; still, they were worth the price when the alternative was strapping everything to the bike as best they could. 'Everything' being as much non-perishable foods as they could could stuff into one of the bags, and as much ammo as they could stuff into the other. After they had squared all of that away, Blake bought herself a new outfit, though this left her at a bit of a loss as to what to do with her old one.

"I suppose you could mail it back to Dad," Yang offered, "I doubt he'd have a problem with keeping one more set of clothes in a closet or box somewhere."

"Really?"

She nodded, "Of course. I don't suppose you had an occasion to look around and notice, but he still has whole sets of Mom's clothes."

"Oh...that's..." Blake trailed off as she searched for appropriate words.

"A bit sad. But it's his little shred of hope, I think." She let the comment hang for a bit before speaking again, "Anyway, you want to mail it to him?"

She considered the lump of clothes in her hands. Yang wondered what she was thinking about. Painful memories, probably. Things she wishes she could forget. Then again, there were some good memories there, too. And if this time is anything like all the other times...

Blake nodded, replying "I don't see why not."

...those few good memories will win out.

"Well, then I suppose we had better get it packaged and ready to ship."

Thankfully, the drive to the local post office was short, and the process of getting a set of garments ready to ship to Patch was fairly painless. With that settled, they were finally ready to head out of town.

As they walked back to Bumblebee, Blake asked, "How can you afford all of this, anyway?"

"I won our branch of the Vytal Festival, remember? Aside from the accolades and fame, there _is_ a pretty substantial cash prize, too. They just don't advertise it very much. Not _set for life_ substantial, only about enough to seriously upgrade your gear." She paused for a moment, "Now that I think about it, the rest of the team should have prizes waiting for them, too. Though, given what happened immediately after, it's understandable that whoever is responsible for getting the prizes out hasn't gotten to everybody yet."

Blake snorted, "I suppose that the list must be reverse Alphabetical, or maybe Faunus are just low-priority."

Yang placed her good hand on Blake's shoulder, "Not everything is a racist thing. Maybe it's just because you have no credentials?"

Blake let out a sigh, "I suppose that's true." After a moment, she asked, "Is there anything else we need?"

She thought for a moment, "Ammo, food, clothes... if I'm honest, I'd like to get more gear for camping, but there's only so much Bumblebee can carry."

"It would be nice if we could set up camp anywhere." Blake seemed less than enthused about having to rely on whatever shelter they could find. Yang knew that it was a style of life she was used to, but that didn't mean she liked it.

"Yeah, but there's not much we can do about it at the moment. We'd have to do something with Bumblebee if I were to get anything bigger, and anything bigger won't be able to fit through mom's portal." _Assuming that she'll agree to portal us to Mistral._ She mounted Bumblebee, waiting for Blake to get on, "This is going to be the last time for a while that we'll have the conveniences of civilization. You ready?"

Blake settled onto the rear section, fitting her arms around Yang's waist, "Ready."

 _Of all the things I've gained and lost over the years, being able to be intimate with her... pretty high up there on the list of things I miss._

They set off out of town, toward the eastern coast of the continent, where they would eventually take a bigger ship to Anima. A small journey of it's own that would cost them a week or more. Still, they would be in the wilderness for the first leg, away from other people, which meant that they could get more serious with Blake's training.

Unless Raven showed up when she had been asked to, in which case they could be in Anima within the next two days.

Yang found herself smiling, having realized that this little meeting will be an entirely new event for her.


End file.
